RWBY: Beacon's Fading Light

Chapter 8

oxoxoxo

Caroline stood over the ashes of what was once her soldier in shock, her other men standing behind her, all of their eyes locked on the spot where one of their own had once stood. After what felt like an eternity, Caroline rose to her feet and turned to her soldiers. "I want one of you to collect his ashes." She said softly. "We'll give him a proper burial when we get home to Menagerie." The soldiers silently nodded in response. "Evidently," she continued, her voice growing steadily louder as she spoke. "Our employer has not been completely honest with us about what this island holds for us. Therefore, I have a standing order for all of you, as well as every other Carolean currently active, not just here, but across the kingdom: no orders are to be taken from Cinder, Torchwick, Derek or anyone but me until I find out exactly what is out there that they neglected to tell us about." The blue coated soldiers gave a quick salute, their commander nodding in pride of her men's loyalty. "Collect his ashes for a proper burial and then relay that order to all the others, I have a call to make."

"Yes ma'am!" The soldiers replied, several marching out to collect a proper vessel for their fallen brother, while the others formed a protective circle around him, their silent message clear: no one else was to pass but their fellows.

Caroline nodded to her men and stepped out of the room toward her chambers. She was nearly there when a familiar and welcome voice rang out. "Caroline, you're back."

The lioness turned to see her two most trusted companions, the snake faunus sisters, Micca and Wun, both of whom snapped off quick salutes as they approached. "At ease, you two." Caroline said, the sisters immediately relaxing.

"We heard you went out looking for missing men this morning." Micca said.

"And, that you and your men were attacked by... creatures." Wun added.

"You're both right." Caroline said. "My men and I were attacked tonight, and I don't know what it was that did it. I intend to find out, however, and I think I know just who to ask. Come on, you two."

The snake sisters snapped off another salute before falling in step behind the lioness. "Who are we asking?" Wun asked. "Surely we can't just ask Derek, that madman wouldn't even speak to us earlier." The younger, shorter snake clenched her fists at the thought of the head of this facility, Micca putting a hand on her sister's shoulder to calm her down.

"After what he did to one of my wounded men? Not a chance." The commander growled. "No, that man is a monster, and after he executed one of my soldiers, I've issued an order, one that I want you two to obey as well. None of the White Fang under my command are to take orders from Derek until further notice."

"Then who are we going to for answers?" Micca asked.

Caroline smirked. "Oh, I have an idea." She said. "Two of them, in fact." With that, the lioness led her two companions into her quarters and activated the communicator provided to her by the White Fang, the device taking the form of a laptop. Typing a few commands into the communicator, Caroline made her call.

A few seconds later, the screen flashed black before the face of Roman Torchwick appeared before her. "Hel-oh... it's you..." The gangster said, seeming rather annoyed. "Are you enjoying your assignment as much as I am mine?"

"What the hell is this place?" Caroline demanded.

"What, this?" Torchwick asked, gesturing all around him to the massive cave he was currently in. "Well, we're underneath-"

"I don't care where you are, idiot, I'm asking where I am." The lioness growled, resisting the urge to toss the communicator across the room and shatter Roman's smug visage. "Surely Cinder told you where it is she was sending me, and I want to know just what this place is."

Roman shrugged. "Sorry big kitty, I have no idea."

"What did you just call me?"

"Nicknames aside," Torchwick continued, ignoring the lioness' rage "Why wouldn't Cinder tell you where she was sending you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Caroline growled. "How do you trust her?"

"I don't trust anyone who makes more money than I do." Roman replied.

"I'm serious. She'll leave us both for dead in a heartbeat."

"Then gripe at her about it, I've got work to do up here and if I don't do it, then I don't get paid."

With those words, Roman disconnected the call, leaving Caroline, Micca and Wun staring at a blank screen. Caroline immediately began typing in commands again. "There is still one call I can make..." she muttered as the call began to connect.

It was nearly half a minute later before the call was connected. The screen flashed black for a moment before the face of Cinder Fall appeared on it. "Caroline, as much as I do love the sound of your voice, you'd better have a good reason for calling me on a Beacon Academy ship."

"Good evening to you too, Cinder." Caroline responded. "I think you owe me some answers about what exactly you've thrown me into."

"And if I decide not to tell you?"

"Then I have one of my beautiful snake sisters here deliver an anonymous tip that three of Beacon's students are actually in league with Roman Torchwick." The lioness gave a dastardly smile as she delivered her threat. "It may take them a while to discover that it's you, and by then you'll be across the kingdoms, but they'll all know your face by then. So, what's it going to be?"

Cinder frowned. "Very well, Caroline, if it will please you, I'll tell you all you need to know."

"Start at the beginning:" Caroline instructed. "What is this place, and what are those creatures outside?"

oxoxoxo

The next day was an average day for Beacon's students, or at least as average as days at Beacon get, and to many seemed to pass remarkably quickly, as students sat in professor Ravencroft's evening class, learning about the culture of Atlas. "In ancient Atlas, it was required of all men to join the army for a period of at least five years, during a period of Atlas' expansion against neighbouring tribes. While that particular example of foolish savagery is no longer practiced in Atlas, we can still see much of that militarism in today's Atlesian culture, with its heavy emphasis on military might, and the fact that two Atlesian generals brought an entire fleet to our academy." The black dressed professor said, more than a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left for today. Class dismissed." The students began to rise, but as one in particular stood up from his seat, the ebon haired professor spoke again. "Not you, Mister Arc. I'd like a word with you."

"Me?" Jaune asked, gulping and gesturing to himself. There was almost no one he dreaded being alone with more than Elaine Ravencroft. She had only been here for a short time, and in that time she had shown a heavy amount of disdain for nearly every student in her class, as well as the school itself, and her withering glare reminded him all too much of professor Goodwitch, but with a very noticeable hint of madness.

"Do you see another Arc in this class?" She asked, her voice seeming to drop. "And before any of your teammates say a word, I'd like to speak to you alone."

Jaune gulped again and made his way to the front of the class, shooting one last look to Pyrrha as though it would be his last. And knowing Ravencroft, it just might be.

Pyrrha looked back to him and nodded, signalling that she believed in him. Jaune nodded back as the classroom doors closed. With a deep breath, Jaune turned to face the professor, feeling like an insect under her gaze.

"Relax, you coward." Ravencroft groaned. "I'm not going to kill you."

"You... You're not?"

"Would you rather I did?"

"No... please no... ma'am." Jaune muttered, the feeling of a slab of concrete in his gut.

"She's not going to kill you Mister Arc." Said a new, and all too familiar voice from behind the knight. Jaune turned to see just who he expected to see. "I'd like a word with you, Jaune." Said Erik Fantine. "Walk with me, will you?"

"Uh, alright sir." Jaune said, following the black cloaked professor as he stepped into the hall. "Uh, sir? Can I ask what this is all about?"

"You may ask all you like," Fantine replied. "However, I will only tell you when we reach my office. It isn't too far from here so it shouldn't take long."

Jaune was silent after that as the two of them made their way through the halls of the academy. It was then that Jaune noticed something. "Wait, I recognize this route."

"You should." Fantine responded, not turning to face the knight as they continued. "We're going exactly where you think we are." Jaune was going to demand to know how Fantine knew what he was thinking when the phantom stopped and turned to face him. "You recognize this door, I assume?"

The knight could only nod as he looked at the familiar runed door to the office of Curtis Marlow. "What are we doing here?" He demanded. "Marlow isn't here anymore."

"This is true, Jaune." Erik replied. "However, have you ever wondered why it is that Professor Marlow isn't returning?"

Jaune opened his mouth to give Fantine an answer, but he soon realized something. "You never told us why he wasn't coming back."

"You're right, I didn't." The phantom said. He reached into one of the many pockets on his coat and produced a key. Inserting the key into the lock on Marlow's office door, he turned it and the door soon opened. The phantom flicked on a light switch and gestured inside.

Jaune stepped into the veteran's former office to find it nearly exactly as it was when he had last seen it. The heads of dead Grimm still lined the walls with the weapons used to kill them lying beneath them, with Marlow's desk still sitting in its usual place. "Professor, why are we here? And what happened to Professor Marlow?"

As an answer, Fantine held out a hand holding two objects to the knight. The first was a small key, and the second was an envelope with his name on it. "Read the letter. Whatever answers it doesn't give, I will." As Jaune took the letter and the key, Fantine turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Jaune was left with his own thoughts and the silence of the now empty office. Placing the key on Marlow's desk, Jaune took a seat in his chair and opened the letter, his hands trembling with excitement as he pulled out the folded sheet of paper within. He debated for a moment on whether or not to open the letter, weighing the possibilities of what it said in his mind. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and he unfolded the letter.

Jaune

I'm not sure when, if ever, you'll get this letter, but you deserve to.

You already know I served with your father Arthur in the last Grimm Incursion, and that I was there on the day he died. Just writing this now brings back memories of that fateful day at Ognoc.

After your father died, I brought what should be your inheritance to your mother, hoping she would pass it on to you, but she asked that I keep it, and give it to you when you came of age. So now, I believe you are ready to take what is rightfully yours.

When you receive this letter, it should be with a key, and that key will unlock the bottom drawer of my desk. Its contents are yours for the taking.

Jaune stopped reading there, his curiosity getting the better of him as he picked up the key he had placed on Marlow's desk. He pushed the chair back away from the desk and knelt down to face the bottom drawer. Taking a deep breath, the young knight pushed the key into the lock. He paused for a moment. Anything could be in this drawer. For all he knew it could be an admission that he wasn't the true son of Arthur Arc. No, it couldn't be that, that was ridiculous. Still, whatever it was that was in the drawer, it was better to find out what it was now, rather than later. Steeling himself for whatever he would find, Jaune turned the key in the lock and, without hesitation, pulled open the drawer. Instantly, the office was bathed in light, the glow coming from the drawer. However powerful the light was, however, all Jaune could do was stare at its source, its brilliance transfixing him.

"Breathtaking, isn't it?"

Jaune's head snapped up to see that Professor Fantine had entered the office. "I didn't hear you come in, sir." He admitted.

"I'm not surprised." Fantine replied. "After all, you've been staring into that drawer for an hour now. You're going to be late for your meeting with Miss Nikos."

"Oh dust! You're right, I'd better... Wait, how did you know that I was training with Pyrrha?" Jaune demanded.

Erik shrugged. "You just admitted it. Either way, you should take that and the letter with you. There's a crate big enough to carry it in sitting in the corner of the room. I made sure of it."

Jaune looked behind the desk to the back corner of the office to see that there was, indeed, a wooden crate just big enough to carry his inheritance. "Professor Fantine," He asked. "Why did my mom want Marlow to hold onto this for so long? Why not just give it to me?"

The black robed professor merely shrugged. "I don't know, Jaune, but whatever the reasons, it's yours now." With those words, Fantine turned and walked towards the door.

"Professor, wait!" Jaune cried, stopping him in his tracks. "What happened to Professor Marlow? Why wasn't he the one to give me this?"

Fantine sighed, unable to look Jaune in the eye. "You remember the explosion last semester? The one that let loose those cave Grimm?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Fantine was silent for a moment, as though unsure of what he was saying. "Marlow... he set that off. It was meant to distract students and teachers alike while he spoke to Ozpin at sword point."

Jaune gaped at Fantine's words. "No... He wouldn't do that... He couldn't..."

"He would," Fantine confirmed "And he did. I tried to stop him, and it nearly cost me my life." When Jaune didn't reply to him, the phantom continued. "Jaune, when Marlow returned from that fateful mission in the Incursion, he didn't come home whole. He was a changed man, part of him having died that night along with your father. When that happened, a darkness was awakened in him, a darkness that lives in all of us that we repress, lest we become no better than the very Grimm we fight. That night, when he was sure that the Arc legacy would die with your expulsion, he lost control of that darkness." Erik paused for a moment as he remembered that night when the man who was once his trusted colleague and friend tried to kill him. He remembered the look in his eyes when they fought, the feral darkness that resided there. His mind then flashed to the look in his eyes when they last spoke, when Marlow called him from the prison, the flat and dead look that made Erik die a little inside as well. As much as they had exchanged barbs and even blows, it still hurt him to see his friend like that. "I still haven't answered your question of where he is, have I?" He took a deep breath before continuing. "No need to worry, boy, he isn't dead. Marlow is serving a prison sentence for what he did. I don't know when he'll be released, as he was tried in secret and imprisoned without a word." With that final line, Fantine strode to the door and stepped through it, pausing outside Marlow's office to look at Jaune for a moment. "Take care, Mister Arc."

Jaune barely heard those words and scarcely noticed the door shutting as the professor left. He sat looking over his inheritance for a few more minutes before he rose to his feet. He should probably pack this up now if he wanted to make it to his training session with Pyrrha.

oxoxoxo

The inn A Rest for the Weary was mostly quiet this late in the evening, and the owner, Mary Ebonwood, reflected on this as she looked over the mostly empty lobby of her establishment. A few men sat at some of the scattered tables, drinks in hand, but aside from them, the inn was mostly empty. Mary let out a yawn as she polished a glass behind the bar. If she didn't know just who would be here soon, she'd probably close the inn's bar early for the night, but one of the people paying a visit tonight was rather important to her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tug at her shirt. She looked to the source to see a young, black haired wolf faunus girl, one that she recognized from earlier that very day. "Nyx, what are you doing down here at this hour?"

Nyx put her hands on her hips and pouted slightly. "It's not that late." She grumbled.

Mary looked at her watch for a moment before looking back to the young girl. "It's almost nine, girl."

Nyx pouted and looked at the ground. "I can't sleep."

The innkeeper shook her head and smiled. "You should still be in your room, Nyx. Imagine what your brother would say if he knew you were out here."

"He wouldn't be happy." Nyx muttered.

"Exactly." Said Mary. "Now run along back to your room, alright?"The innkeeper chuckled slightly as the young faunus girl pouted before scampering off to her room. Her attention was then drawn to the front door opening as two people entered. The first she recognized, his black coat, hair and tricorne hat making him easily distinguishable, the other was a black haired girl in red robes with a green leather chestplate. "Thatch!" She greeted upon seeing the boy. "How are you, boy!"

"I'm alright, mum. Our team's fearless leader's back on her feet again." Thatch said, walking up to the bar and hugging his mother over it. "She actually asked me to come down here tonight, check on that thing I left here with you." Mary instantly knew what Thatch was talking about. Not too long ago, he had asked her if he could store something in the back of her inn. She wasn't expecting, however, for that something to be a massive White Fang armoured personnel carrier.

Mary leaned in close to her son and whispered "You mean that thing you left in the back?"

"Yeah," Thatch whispered back. "That's the one. We didn't have much time to search it before."

"I see." Mary said, returning to her original posture behind the bar. "And who's this pretty young lass?" she asked.

Thatch turned to the girl he walked in with who looked like she was trying to hide her face as he introduced her. "Mum, this is my teammate, Alison Zu. Alison, this is my mother, Mary Ebonwood."

Mary offered the oriental girl a hand, one she gladly accepted, smiling as Mary gave her a rough handshake. "Pleased to meet you, lass. Any friend of my son's is a friend of mine."

"Thanks." Alison said softly as Mary released her hand.

Mary smiled and looked past Alison for a second, her expression souring slightly. "Uh, Thatch, you think you could work your magic before you head out back?"

Thatch followed his mother's gaze and immediately saw what she meant. Toward the back of the room, a pair of clearly drunk patrons had started a shouting match, seeming to be only moments away from blows. The renegade sighed. "I'm on it." He said, standing up. "Oy, you two!" He shouted. Both patrons turned to face him. Thatch's eyes glowed red for a faction of a second as he spoke again. "Play nice."

Mary chuckled as the two patrons hastily nodded and left the bar, stammering apologies the whole way. "Many thanks, son. Now feel free to go search."

Thatch nodded and headed towards the back of the inn. "Thanks mum. I'll be back soon."

"I'll make sure your friend stays in one piece." Mary called to her son. When she heard the back door shut, she turned back to the quiet artist who was still just standing awkwardly by the bar. "Take a seat, girl." Mary said, gesturing to one of the many seats by the bar. "I bought these seats for a reason, you know."

"Oh, uh, thanks..." Alison said, awkwardly taking a seat. "So, you're Thatch's mother?"

"You don't see the family resemblance?" Mary said, running a hand through her pitch black hair and showing off a cocky grin that looked a lot like the boy she had come to know. She certainly bore more than a slight resemblance to the renegade, and the accent she had was unmistakeable.

Alison looked the woman over. In truth she did bear quite the similarity to Thatch. That was when she realized something. "Wait, if you're his mother, why do you have a different last name to him?"

Mary sighed and looked up wistfully. "It seems like so long ago I met his father, Captain Bartholomew Edwards of the airship Primo Victoria. I met him when his ship docked in Vale when I was just starting this inn. He was one of my first customers when I first opened, saying that he was looking for a reasonable price. I agreed and let him stay here, along with his crew." She chuckled slightly at the memory. "He gave the lot of them a speech about how none of them were to touch me, else they'd be on cleanup duty for a year."

Alison couldn't help but laugh along with the innkeeper at that. "So what happened next?" She prompted, interested.

Mary shuddered slightly at the next memory. "I had stepped out of the inn to buy groceries for myself. By the time I got back to the inn, it was growing dark and I was in a hurry to get home and sleep. Unfortunately, I was seized by a group of lads who had their eyes on my money, along with... other things..." She said darkly. "Two of them held me back as I screamed for help. I was sure I would die that night, but before any of the other men could lay a hand on me, Bartholomew was there, fighting them off with ease. I watched in awe as those who didn't run away in terror were cut down where they stood. Bartholomew helped me to my feet and walked me back to the inn after that, where I thanked him, telling him that his visit would be free of charge. Do you know what he said after that?" Alison shook her head before Mary continued. "He told me to keep my money, that I was just starting my business and that I would need it. I told him he should at least have a few drinks at the bar on the house, and to that he agreed." Mary smiled again. "He stayed here for just over a month, and we became rather... close... during that time. When he finally had to leave, he told me he would return some day." As the innkeeper spoke, her face fell slightly.

"He hasn't come back yet, has he?" Alison asked.

"No, he hasn't." Mary said sadly. "Soon after he left, I discovered I was pregnant. Thatch was born soon afterwards, and the second he was, I called Bartholomew. He was so excited at the thought of having a son that he told me he would cut his voyage short just to come see him." Her face darkened as she continued. "I waited days before I heard from him again, telling me he was on his way and that he couldn't wait to see me and our son. A day later, I found out his ship crashed. The Primo Victoria went down over North-Eastern Vale. There were reported to be no survivors."

The bar felt silent after what Mary said, Alison absorbing all the information the older woman told her. It felt like hours before she spoke again. "Does Thatch know?" The artist asked.

Mary shook her head. "I could never bring myself to tell him, though every time I look at him, it's as though I'm looking a Bartholomew all over again, that's why I gave him his father's last name."

"You've never told him?"

Mary sighed. "He asked once, when he was much younger, but I told him I was busy. He hasn't mentioned it since then."

Neither one said anything after that, an awkward silence settled in over the two of them, weighing down on their shoulders as the gravity of what Mary said sank in. Thatch had no idea who his father was, and his mother had kept it from him his entire life. After what seemed like forever, Alison spoke up. "Are you ever going to tell him?"

The renegade's mother looked down at the counter of her bar. "I don't rightly know, lass. I just don't know." The older woman looked up and looked Alison in the eye. "Listen well, girl. I wouldn't tell this story to just anyone. I only told you because you seem to share quite the connection with my son."

Alison's face went tomato red as she tried to form a proper sentence. "What? How did you... Why would you think..."

Mary smiled. "When you looked at him, I saw the same look I had when I knew his father, and the last time he was here, he told me about his team. You were the one he spent the most time on, more than even his own partner."

"That might be because he hates his partner..." Alison muttered.

"Or because he fancies you." Mary said, Alison's face reddening even further.

As the artist tried to form some form of coherent sentence, the back door to the inn opened again and Thatch walked in. "Those nutters might have thought they were good, but they left a little something behind in the truck." Thatch said, holding up a few sheets of paper. It was then that he noticed his mother attempting to hold back laughter while Alison looked away from her, her face red as she looked down, a comically embarrassed pout on her face. Thatch sighed. "Mum, what did you do."

"Nothing important, son." Mary said, smirking. "Anyway, it's getting late, so the two of you should probably be heading back to Beacon. Unless you'd like to stay here for the night, I think I have one room I can spare."

"We'refinelet'sgonow!" Alison blurted out, jumping out of her seat and grabbing her teammate, and dragging him out the door with a speed that would impress Ruby.

"Don't be strangers, you two!" Mary called after them, chuckling to herself as she did. "Ah, young love."

oxoxoxo

Something was off about Jaune and Pyrrha knew it.

It had all started when he was not only late for their usual training atop Beacon's rooftop, but also carrying a long crate, saying that he didn't have time to drop it in their room. She accepted what he said, after all, he did have to go talk to professor Ravencroft after class, maybe the professor had told him to hold onto the crate. Her worries only continued when Jaune was unable to land so much as a single blow on her, no matter how easy she would make it, or how slow she would move. Finally, having had enough of the knight's distracted mood tonight, Pyrrha slammed her shield into his chest and sent him sprawling. Walking over and putting a boot on his chestplate, Pyrrha looked her partner in his eyes. "Jaune, something's wrong here."

"What, I... I don't know what you're talking about." Jaune stammered. He tried to look his partner in the eyes, but just couldn't meet her gaze. "Okay, yeah, maybe something's up..."

"You got that right." Said a new voice. Jaune and Pyrrha both turned to the source of the voice to see that Maria was leaning against the door to the rooftop in full armour, her crutch nowhere in sight. "You barely even touched her, and she was going REALLY easy on you."

"Maria?" Pyrrha said. "You're out of your cast."

The centurion smirked and walked toward the knight and Amazon. "Just got it off today, thought I'd take a walk and get used to having two legs again."

Pyrrha smiled at her rival. "You're not going to go charge an army of giant Grimm on your own again, are you?"

Maria chuckled and stopped walking for a moment, pulling her skirt up slightly to reveal an ugly brown scar on her left leg, just below the knee where the Nevermore's feather had pierced her leg. "I'm not trying that again until I graduate. I've got a rather lovely reminder not to do that now."

"Ouch." Jaune said, looking at the scar (and not just looking at Maria's legs).

"And you didn't have to walk around with that since the "Battle of Beacon."" Maria reminded him. "Anyway, Pyrrha's right, something's up with you. She was trying to let you win that one, and you didn't even notice. Seriously, you're even worse than usual."

"Maria!" Pyrrha snapped.

"Tell me I'm wrong and I'll take it back."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't say a word. Maria was right. "Jaune, you know that if something's bothering you, you can talk to me."

Jaune sighed. "I know, and I really should tell SOMEONE about this, if only to get it off my chest." With that, the knight got to his feet and walked over to the long crate he had brought out with him. "Professor Ravencroft told me to sta after class today, but only because Professor Fantine wanted to talk to me. He gave me this, told me it was my 'inheritance.'" Jaune sighed before he began to open the crate. "It used to belong to my father."

With that, Jaune pried the lid off the crate, a brilliant light shining out from inside, Pyrrha and Maria gaping at the glowing contents of the crate, trying to discern just what was causing that glow. They didn't need to wait long.

Jaune reached into the crate and produced the source of the glow. Maria and Pyrrha could only stare at it. It was beautiful. Jaune's inheritance was a sword, but not just any sword. The sword's blade was four feet long, and two inches wide with an extra foot of handle, topped off with a pommel that bore the Arc family crest. The blade seemed to glow from within, illuminating the night with its light, lines of different colours snaking around the blade from handle to tip, shining to the rest of the world before seeming to disappear entirely. Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated deeply on the blade, causing the light to dim as he did. "This was my father's blade, the one he used in the Grimm Incursion. This blade was specially crafted for him, meant to be handed down to me when I became a huntsman." Jaune paused for a moment as he looked at his reflection in the immaculate blade, his reflection meeting his eyes as he stared at the blade. He broke his stare and looked back to the two girls watching him. "The note I got with it called it Excalibur."